Instax snapshots from Paris

Last night we got back from our Paris trip. It was so inspiring and we managed to fit so much in including a lot of walking! The weather was amazing so it was a great opportunity to experience everything on foot. (There was also a high level of pollution so the metro was free for the weekend which was handy for tired feet breaks.) We visited the Pompidou, Notre Dame (my favourite building in Paris,) Arc de Triomphe, Lourve, Jardin de Tuileries, Eiffel Tower, Musee D'Orsay, Musee d'Art Moderne, Musee de Montmarte, Invalides, saw a show at The Moulin Rouge - which I loved! and took a boat cruise down the river Seine on our last day. The trip was filled with art, culture, macaroons and coffee, it was so good. I'm feeling inspired to purchase a National Art Pass  after the trip to make the most of the museums in London, it offers 50% off many major exhibitions and I think it will be a good incentive to encourage me to go to more exhibitions and shows. I'm going to share another post with my favourite bits from our Paris museum visits, there were lots but here's some snapshots from my instax camera. I love this camera - it was really sunny while we were there so a few of the photo's were a bit too overexposed but I love the little collection of pics that did come out, hope you enjoy.

Paris sketchbook trip

I'm off to Paris later today for a week long sketchbook break. I'm looking forward to lots of drawing, visiting the museums and sights, drinking coffee and eating croissants! Hope you have a good week too and I'll be back to share bits from my trip next week.

Books on my Wishlist

Here's a few of the books on my current wish list... 

Kerry Lemon's 'Fearless Drawing,' 'Illustrated adventures for overcoming artistic adversity.' I follow Kerry's blog and her work is so beautiful. She has a really energetic attitude towards what she does for a living and her enthusiasm is contagious so her book is bound to be equally inspiring. It's a great concept for a book, I can't wait to pick up a copy in June!

This book by art blogger at The Jealous Curator Danielle Krysa, looks like it could be a really good reference and go-to book in times of need! Everyone gets creative block at some point and this book contains tips and advice from 50 artists about how they personally overcome it. The artists give their insights on how to conquer self doubt, stay motivated, and get ideas to flow with each artist offering up a tried and tested exercise to kick start the creative process. 

'A Beautiful Mess, Happy Handmade Home,' by Elsie Larson & Emma Chapman. This is the second book by this creative duo who together run the A Beautiful Mess blog which is packed full of daily inspiration in the form of d.i.y's, recipes, crafts, photography, fashion, decor and lots more! I'm obsessed with their blog and really enjoyed their first book which was a photo idea book. I'm currently saving to buy my first home so I think this book will be really helpful and fun to look through to get ideas.

I love reading the sort of books where you don't have to go through each and every page but can pick up when you want to and use as reference books to inspire and inform when the mood takes you. What's currently on your book wish list? I'd love to hear your recommendations! 

Illustrations for '365 Reasons to be proud to be Irish.'

Last year I worked with Anova books to illustrate one of their new Portico titles '365 Reasons to be Proud to be Irish,' by Richard Happer. The book is part of their popular culture and humour section and their 365 series. The book takes a look at Ireland's rich history, heritage, traditions, landmarks, culture and more.

I enjoyed working on this project and I really liked the fact I was restricted to using only black and white, it was a fun challenge! This was the first book I illustrated (now I'm on my fourth) and I absolutely love working on book projects and in the publishing sector - it's nice to have projects with a lengthier timeframe and I love seeing the final product!

Icons used throughout the book

I hope you like the final artwork, there were 18 illustrations in total so here are some of my favourite images from the book. Please feel free to get in touch if you would like to see more. 

Waitrose Kitchen March 14.'

This months feel-good food illustrations were all about sweetcorn, lime, flat leaf parsley, cauliflower, puy lentils and sweet potatoes. I can't wait to try out the recipe for sweetcorn fritters with avocado and cherry tomato salsa, sounds and looks delicious.

'We'll always have Paris.'

Next month I'm taking a trip to Paris. I'm really looking forward to 6 days in the city soaking up the inspiration and filling a sketchbook with some new work. I'm planning to go to the usual tourist attractions, The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Montmartre etc and hopefully take a river cruise down the Seine and see a show at the Moulin Rouge. There's also La Roseraie de l'Hay-les-Roses a rose garden that houses over 3000 species in 3 miles of flower beds that I would love to see.

In preparation of the trip I've been researching other artists sketchbook work. I found a really great book 'Paris Sketchbook,' by Jason Brooks (renowned fashion illustrator) that documents his fascination of the city in this 'part guidebook, part illustrated journal.' It's really interesting to observe his sketchbook practice in relation to his commercial work. Below are some extracts from the book that are particularly inspiring…

I love the playfulness of The Eiffel Tower made up of different typefaces, the shape is so iconic that less is more in this depiction. The postcard collection is so aesthetically pleasing, I love collections and it would be fun to start my own collection of something whilst on my trip.

I like how the book is split up into various sections: architecture, the street, le cafe, fashion, shopping, art, a to b and la nuit. It helps give a balanced view of the whole city but it would also be fun to focus on just one study of something. I'm excited by the idea of going into a Parisian cafe and ordering a table of French desserts and spending the day drawing them, eating them and sipping on coffee :) A few other things I love in the book were the little silver foil cut-outs of iconic landmarks of Paris. It's good to look at basic structures and have fun experimenting with different approaches, I'm going to try to incorporate this into my drawing. I also loved the inserts of translucent tracing paper type dividers with inked quotes - love this idea, the ink drawings on coloured pages with simple blocks of white, the collections and groups of objects - doorways, lampposts and the small quick studies of the people of Paris. So inspiring!  

The Artworks new 'Thank You' mailer

This year The Artworks decided to create a special mailer to thank their clients, existing and future for thinking of their artists for so many lovely projects. I popped in to see them on Friday and got my very own pack - a gorgeously designed package that opens out displaying 6 thank you cards each illustrated by a different artist. I thought it was a great idea beautifully executed and I'm so chuffed to be part of their team. There's lots of exciting things happening at The Artworks this year so stay tuned and if you are a commissioner of illustration and haven't received a pack head over to their website to request one - you don't want to miss out!